Machine for impregnating matches.



J. H. WEAVER & A. D. WELKER.

MACHINE FOR IMPREGNATING MATCHES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11. :9x3.

1,167,323.. Patented Jam l, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

QII I INVENTORS f 9/16. 22 a 0W gwm-ww WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOORAPHCO..WASHINGTDN. n. c.

J. H. WEAVER & A. D. WELKER.

MACHINE FOR IMPREGNATING MATCHES.

APPLICATION FILED 1111.11. 1913.

1,167,383., Patented Jan. 4, 1916.

56 3 $HEETSSHEET 2.

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WITNESSES COLUMBXA PLANOORAPH cm, WAS HlNGTON, D. C.

J. H. WEAVER & A. D. WELKER.

MACHINE FOR IMPREGNATING MATCHES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.11,1913.

1,167,323. Patented Jan.4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES Wl NVENTORS COLUMBIA PLANOnk/mfl CO.,WASHINGTDN. D. c

JAMES H. WEAVER AND ALVIN D. W'ELKER, OF THE OHIO MATCH. COMPANY, OFWADSWORTH,

W'ADSW'ORTI-I, OHIO, ASSIGNOBS TO OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

MACHINE FOR IMPREGNATING MATCHES.

Application filed January 11, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, James H. IVEAVER and ALVIN D. WVELKER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at IVadsworth, in the county of Medina andState of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inMachines for Impregnating Matches, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient and efficientelement in a match making machine, for impregnating match splints with afluid which will prevent their afterglow when the flame is extinguished:the matches so impregnated being commonly described as non-glowing, orimpregnated. The purpose of the treatment is to eliminate danger offires when burnt matches are carelessly thrown away.

While the apparatus of this invention is designed primarily as a part ofthe con nected series of machines for cutting, sticking, dipping anddrying matches and known as a match machine, it is to be understood thatthe invention is not thus limited.

The invention consists of an impregnating bath which is lifted up to thesplints, as distinguished from one into which the splints are loweredand through which they are dragged before emergence, thus accumulatingan unnecessary quantity of moisture which requires a relatively longtime and much heat to dry out before the paraffin can be eflicientlyapplied; our movable bath being combined with an adjacent absorbent padprovided with an exhaust for rapidly removing excess moisture andthereby expediting the drying operation preliminary to the parafiining,as we will proceed now more particularly to set forth and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the severalfigures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a sideelevation. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the absorbent pad. Fig. 3is a top plan view of one form of bath. Fig. 4 is an elevation of thelefthand side of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken in the plane ofline A B, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the lifter cam.

Under the reservation previously noted, we will proceed to explain ourinvention as a part of a match machine, and without showing the whole ofsuch machine, will Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 4, 1916. Serial No. 741,601.

assume that it is one of the continuous type, such as used in the matchfactory of the Ohio Match Company, at \Vadsworth, Ohio.

The upright 1, stringer 2, carrier chain guides 3, carrier chain ofplates I in which the splints are stuck and by which they are carriedfrom the cutter progressively through the machine, may be and are hereshown as of known construction; so also is the polygonal roller 5 as toconstruction, but herein it is given a new use by being located abovethe impregnating bath to guide and hold the loaded chain platessuccessively above the bath. A roller-lifting cam lever mechanism 6 ofsubstantially known construction is used for adjusting the roller withrelation to the bath.

The bath comprises a frame 7 of suitable construction to receive astationary tank 8, opposite sides of which are provided with guideways9. Within the tank is a bath 10, having slides 11 at opposite sidesfitted to slide up and down in the guideways 9. These slides may besecured to the bath in any suitable way, as by goose-neck brackets 12. p

13 is a shaft mount-ed in the frame of the machine and carrying atopposite ends similar cams 14 which engage rollers 15 on the slides 11,so that by rotation of the cams the bath 10 is raised and lowered withinthe tank 8. Rotary motion may be imparted to the cams by any suitablemeans, such as a bevel gear 16 meshed by a bevel gear 17 on a shaft 18driven by any suitable means. The point of this feature of the inventionis this: In the former constructions, the carrier chain with its load ofsplints was dragged through the bath, and in its progress it descendedinto the bath at an incline and then was fully submerged and then arosefrom the bath at an opposite incline, thereby greatly agitating the bathand saturating the splints to an unnecessary extent, so that theoperation of drying the impregnated splints sufiiciently to take theparaflin was both time and heat consuming and costly in output. In ourinvention a plate of splints is presented above the bath, one at a time,on a fiat of the roller 5, and the bath containing the impregnatingfluid is lifted up to the thus stationed plate and the splintsmomentarily exposed to the fluid while they are stationary, and then thebath recedes while the plate of impregnated splints moves on and a freshplate of splints is presented to the next horizontally positioned flatof the roller. Thus we avoid the immerging, dragging and emerging of thesplints and the consequent splashing of the impregnating fluid, and theover-impregnation of the splints, and greatly facilitate theirimpregnation. As will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, the roller 5 maybe maintained at any desired elevation above the bath, and thusadditionally aid in insuring the im pregnating of the splints to thedesired extent and without excessive saturation.

As the impregnated splints are advanced from the impregnating machine tobe dried, preparatory to dipping in the parafiin or other similarpromoter of ignition, as usual, they come into contact with an absorbentpad, here shown as a hollow perforated roller 19, covered with felt 20or other moisture absorbing material or substance; and to furtherexpedite the drying of the splints by the removal of excess moisture,this-hollow roller or absorbent pad may be connected with any suitableexhaust fan or other apparatus 21, by means of a pipe 22 applied to oneof the journals 23 on which the roller turns. The absorbent pad 19 maybe suspended in arms 24 suitably supported on columns 25 depending, forexample, from the stringers 2 of the match machine frame. The absorbentpad may be positively turned at about the speed of the moving carrierchain, or it may be so mounted as to be turned by the passage of thesplints over it. In either case the splints are in such intimate contactwith the absorbent pad that they are very quickly deprived of excessmoisture and their drying greatly hastened.

The exhaust apparatus 21 may have pipe 26 by which the fluid extractedfrom the splints may be returned to the impregnating tank or itsreservoir. This exhaust apparatus may be driven by a special motor 27connected therewith by a belt 28, or it may be otherwise operated.

We have shown the absorbent pad as provided with a head 29 at that endto which the exhaust apparatus is connected, and in order to temper thesuction, a battle plate 30 may be interposed between the inlet to theexhaust pipe 22 and the outlet of the pad.

Impregnating fluid may be supplied to the bath 10 in any suitable way.13 or example, as shown in Fig. 5, the tank 8 may be supplied with fluidand the bath may be provided with flap valves 31 opening inwardly sothat as the bath descends into the tank the flap valves 31 will openautomatically and admit the fluid from tank 8 into the bath 10, and thenclose again automatically as the bath is elevated. The fluid level maybe maintained in the tank 8 from a reservoir 32, and this reservoir maybe connected by means of a pipe 33 leading into a pump 3%, the outletfrom which may be in the form of a goose-neck pipe 35 opening into thetank 8. As shown in Fig. 1, the pump 34; may be geared up with shaft 18.Instead of filling the bath 10 through the flap valves 31, the bath maybe made without such valves, and the goose neck 35 may open directlyinto the bath so as to supply it from the reservoir In that case thetank 8 would serve merely to catch the overflow from the bath, and thebath would move up and down in the tank without splashing theimpregnating fluid. -The overflow from the bath into the tank would bereturned to the reservoir 32 through the overflow 36. If the firstdescribed construction is used, this overflow 36 would be located at ornear the top of the tank 8, as indicated in Fig. 3 but if the latterarrangement is adopted, then this overflow would be arranged a littleabove the bottom of the tank. The sprocket wheel 37 on shaft 18 mayserve to connect that shaft with any suitable source of power, as, forexample, the match machine proper. The reservoir 32 may have anysuitable screen 38 over its top to prevent match sticks and otherforeign matter from getting into the solution and thus clogging up theholes in the strainer 33. If necessary, the carrier chain may becontinued from the absorbent pad through any suitable drying apparatus,or be exposed to any suitable drying atmosphere or medium,,before itapproaches the paraflining apparatus; or, if desired, the absorbent padmay be omitted, or a substitute used in its stead.

By the apparatus above described, the splints may be impregnated veryuniformly and rapidly, and without waste of the impregnating material;and the apparatus may be interposed in the ordinary continuous matchmachine without any material disturbance of the present installations.

What we claim is 2- 1. In a machine for impregnating match splints witha material which will render them non-glowing after the matches havebeen ignited and extinguished, an endless traveling splint carrier, anda polygonal roller about which the carrier passes and by which the saidcarrier is momentarily de tained over the impregnating bath, combinedwith the said impregnating bath, means to move said bath toward and awayfrom the detained splints, means to keep the impregnating bath suppliedwith impregnating material, and an absorbent pad interposed in the pathof movement of the carrier as it leaves the bath.

2. In a machine for impregnating match splints with a material whichwill render them non-glowing after the matches have been ignited andextinguished, an endless traveling splint. carrier, and a polygonalroller about which the carrier passes and by which the splint carrier ismomentarily detained over the impregnating bath, combined with the saidimpregnating bath, means to move said bath toward and away from thedetained splints, means to keep the impregnating bath supplied withimpregnating material, and a hollow perforated roller covered withmoisture-absorb ing material interposed in the path of move ment oi thecarrier as it leaves the bath.

3. In a machine for impregnating match splints with a material whichwill render them non-glowing after the matches have been ignited andextinguished, an endless traveling splint carrier, and a polygonalroller about which the carrier passes and by which the said carrier ismomentarily detained over the impregnating bath, combined with the saidimpregnating bath, means to move said bath toward and away from thedetained splints, means to keep the impregnating bath supplied withimpregnating material, and a hollow absorbent pad interposed in the pathof movement of the carrier as it leaves the bath and having an exhaustmechanism arranged within it for the removal of the impregnatingmaterial absorbed by the pad.

4. In a machine for impregnating match splints with amaterial which willrender them non-glowing after the matches have been ignited andextinguished, an endless traveling splint carrier, and a polygonalroller about which the carrier passes and by which the splint carrier ismomentarily detained over the impregnating bath, combined with the saidimpregnating bath, means to move said bath toward and away from thedetained splints, means to keep the impregnating bath supplied withimpregnatingmaterial, a hollow absorbent pad interposed in the path ofmovement of the carrier as it leaves the bath and having an exhaustmechanism arranged within it for the removal of the impregnatingmaterial absorbed by the pad, and means to connect the exhaust with thebath to return the ma terial for reuse in the bath.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 8th day ofJanuary A. D. 1913.

JAMES H. IVEAVER. ALVIN D. WELKER.

WVitnesses:

lVILLARD G. Cox, A. M. BECK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

